Lint collector



May 7, 1968 R. G. REINEMAN LINT COLLECTOR Filed Nov. 25, 1965 FIG 4 INVENTOR. RICHARD G. REINEMAN ATTORNEYS United States Patent Oflice 3,381,325 Patented May 7, 1968 3,381,325 LINT COLLECTOR Richard G. Reineman, Newport Beach, Calif., assignor to Tackmer Corporation, Palo Alto, Calif., a corporation of California Filed Nov. 25, 1966, Ser. No. 597,041 4 Claims. (Cl. 15-104) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This lint collector has a cylindrical roller with a sticky cylindrical surface and stub shafts at each end, supported by a frame member. The frame member is hollow and channel-like with transverse roller-supporting walls and a web joining side walls. Two support members generally parallel to the side walls each provide a pivot opening and have a locking groove on both sides of the pivot opening. The device is normally closed by a hollow channel-like combination cover-and-handle member, which has pivot means fitting into the pivot openings and locking ribs engageable in the grooves and flexible out from them. The ribs are locked in a closed position where the cover-and-handle member serves as a cover and cooperates with the frame member to enclose said roller, and are also locked in an open position 180 away from the closed position, where the cover and handle member and the frame member are collinear to provide a handle for the lint collector.

This invention relates to a lint collector of the type employing tacky material to lift lint from clothing and furniture.

One object of the invention is to provide a lint collector that may be carried in a ladys handbag or suitcase without exposing its tacky tape. Heretofore, lint collectors employing tacky tape have not been suitable for carrying in a suitcase or handbag because they lacked a cover or else were too large when covered, or did not have a handle of adequate length to enable firm brushing.

The present invention provides a combination protective cover and handle. When the device is closed, the roll of tacky material is enclosed, and a member that serves as a cover is mounted pivotally so that it can be swung open to provide a good handle, by which the device is held for vigorous brushing action.

In arriving at this device with its combination handle and cover element, a number of problems have been solved, including providing a device which is light in weight, is readily made from plastic, provides an adequate strength at the handle, and provides anadequately rigid connection when the handle is fully opened, so that it can be borne down on when being used. The solving of these problems is among the objects of the invention. The device provides structural support for the handle by means of an undercut structure used in conjunction with the pivotal mounting of the handle to the supporting frame for the tacky roll. Moreover, a box-like handle structure provides great strength and rigidity considering the weight and amount of material employed.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description of a preferred embodiment.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation of a lint-removing device embodying the principles of the invention. In solid lines the device is shown in its fully enclosed, transporting position; in broken lines the upper half of the device is swung open and shown in its fully extended, open use position.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the device of FIG. 1 in its fully opened position.

FIG. 3 is an end elevation view looking at FIG. 1 in the direction of the arrows 3--3.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view in section taken along the line 4-4 in FIG. 2, broken in the middle to conserve space.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view in section taken along the line 5-5 in FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view in side elevation of a portion of the device with the cover member being folded from its open to its closed position, parts of the device being broken away or broken off.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary top plan view of the locking mechanism shown slightly away from its locking position.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary view in perspective of the pivot portion of the device.

The lint collector 10 shown in the drawing is made up of three main members: a supporting frame member 11, a cylindrical roller 12 carrying a surface of sticky tape 13, and a handle-cover member 14, which is pivotally mounted to the frame member 11. When the frame 11 and member 14 are in the closed position shown in solid lines in FIG. 1, the two cooperate to provide an enclosure substantially fully enclosing the roll 12 of sticky tape 13. When the device 10 is in open position, as shown in FIG. 2 and in broken lines in FIG. 1, the member 14 provides a strong handle.

The plastic cylindrical roller 12 is provided with disclike end walls 15 and 16 that preferably project radially beyond the sticky cylindrical surface 13 and are provided with axial cylindrical projections 17 and 18 which terminate in smaller cylindrical members 19 and 20. The larger cylindrical projections 17 and 18 serve as thrust bearings and spacers, while the smaller and outermost cylinders 19 and 20 provide rotary stub shafts enabling rotation of the roller 12.

The frame member 11 comprises an integrally molded, preferably somewhat curved, channel-like structure having transverse members 21 and 22 at or adjacent its ends and having respective central projections 23 and 24 with openings 25 and 26 that receive the cylindrical stub shafts 19 and 20 and thus support the roller 12 for free rotation. The frame 11 also has a generally fiat, but preferably somewhat curved Web 27 from which two side walls 28 and 29 extend up therefrom. The transverse member 22 preferably lies at the front end, but the transverse member 21 is spaced from the rear end, where a rearmost wall 31 provides an abutment when the device is open. Also integral with the frame 11 are a pair of support members 32 and 33 extending above the rear ends of the walls 28 and 29 and within them, each having a pivot opening 34 therethrough and each having a vertical lock groove 35 extending above and below its opening 34.

The combination handle-and-cover member 14 provides a deeper channel-like structure having a preferably somewhat curved web and somewhat curved side walls 41 and 42 extending therefrom. One end Wall 43 is provided with a notch 44 to receive the projection 24 of the frames end wall 22. Its other end wall is stepped, having (as shown in FIG. 1) an upper portion 45, a lower portion 46, and a horizontal shoulder portion 47. The lower portion 46 bears against the abutment 31 when the handle 14 is open. To the rear of the portion 46 extends a boxlike strengthening portion of the member 14, which includes the end wall portions 45 and 47 and also two walls 48 and 49 generally perpendicular to those portions and stepped in from the inside walls 41 and 42.

Rear portions or wings 51 and 52 of the side walls 41 and 42 are each molded to provide pivots 53 and locking ribs 54. The pivots 53 project beyond the ribs 54 and engage in the pivot openings 34, while the ribs 54 are moved into and out of the locking grooves 35. The ribs 54 are locked in the closed position of the device (FIG. 1) where the roller 12 is fully enclosed, and also in the position 180 apart in which the member 14 serves as a handle, so that the device is locked shut and locked open. In between, the portions or wings 51 and 52 are flexed away from the support members 32 and 33, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, and the ribs 54 are not in the grooves 35, it being relatively easy to flex the portions 51 and 52 since the plastic is springy and flexible and the parts are not rigidly connected with rigid structure. Thus, the ribs 54 ride up on the flat surfaces of the members 32 and 33. As soon as the ribs 54 reach the 180 position, they snap into the grooves 35. At this time, the end members 46 and 31 abut each other (see FIG. 4), and the edge of the frame member 11 is also abutted by the bottom surface 47 of the box-like structure, thereby giving quite a bit of strength to the handle-frame structure, so that there is no possibility of forcing the members 11 and 14 any further or of forcing the members 54 out of the grooves 35 at this time through any normal use.

Recesses 56 in the top edges 57 of the walls 41 and 42 help in opening the device.

The roller 12 may employ any type of sticky tape 13 desired, though it is preferred that it be a water-washable type, so that there is no need to have a series of tapes on top of each other. There is simply a continuous cylindrical surface of water-washable tacky tape, so that the collected lint, dust and so on can be washed out using soap and water.

To those skilled in the art to which this invention relates, many changes in construction and widely differing embodiments and applications of the invention will suggest themselves without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The disclosures and the description herein are purely illustrative and are not intended to be in any sense limiting.

I claim:

1. A lint collector, comprising a cylindrical roller having a sticky cylindrical surface and stub shafts at each end,

a frame member comprising a hollow channel-like member with two transverse walls thereacross, one at an outer end, side walls, and a web joining said side walls and said transverse walls, said transverse walls having bearing openings receiving said stub shafts for rotation of said roller, said frame member also having adjacent an inner end two support members generally parallel to said side walls, each providing a pivot opening therein and each having a locking groove on both sides of said pivot opening, said frame member also having an inner end wall extending across said web between said side walls at said support end, and

a combination cover-and-handle member comprising a hollow channel-like member with a web, side walls and end walls, said side walls being higher than those of said frame member, which are shallower than said roller, said cover-and-handle member having wings carrying pivot means fitting into said pivot openings and locking ribs engageable in said grooves and flexible out from them, said ribs being locked in a closed position where said cover-and-handle member serves as a cover and cooperates with said frame member to enclose said roller and locked in an open position away from the closed position where said cover-and-handle member and said frame member are collinear to provide a handle for the lint collector, and are unlocked in between those positions, one said end Wall engaging the said transverse wall at said outer end, the other said end wall being stepped and having one portion mating with and collinear with said inner wall at said inner end when the device is in closed position and having a recessed portion abutting the inner end wall of the frame member when that is in its open position.

. A lint collector, comprising cylindrical roller having a sticky cylindrical surface and stub shafts at each end,

frame member comprising a hollow channel-like member with transverse members thereacross, side walls, and a web joining said side walls and said transverse members, said transverse members having bearing openings receiving said stub shafts, said frame member also having at one end two support members generally parallel to said side walls and extending above them, each having a pivot opening therein, and

combination cover-and-handle member comprising a hollow channel-like member with a web, side walls, and end walls, said side walls being higher than those of said frame member, which are shallower than said roller, said cover-and-handle member having pivot means fitting into said pivot openings, being swingable from a closed position where said coverand-handle member serves as a cover and cooperates with said frame member to enclose said roller to an open position 180 away from the closed position where said cover-and-handle member and said frame member are collinear to provide a handle for the lint collector,

each of said support members having a locking groove on both sides of its said pivot opening and said coverand-handle member having locking ribs engageable in said grooves and able to be flexed out of them, said ribs locking in said grooves in both said open position and said closed position and otherwise flexed out from them.

. A lint collector, comprising cylindrical roller having a sticky cylindrical surface and stub shafts at each end,

frame member comprising a hollow channel-like member with transverse members thereacross, side walls, and a web joining said side walls and said transverse members, said transverse members having bearing openings receiving said stub shafts, said frame member also having at one end two support members generally parallel to said side walls and extending above them, each having a pivot opening therein, and

a combination cover-and-handle member comprising a 6 said cover-and-handle member having a stepped end and perpendicular to all of them, thereby rigidifying and wall at the end having said pivot means, with a rearstrengthening said lint collector.

most portion at the very end of said cover-andhandle member which in said closed position is sub- References Clted stantially collinear with one of the end walls of said 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS frame member and another portion inset therefrom 949,702 2/1910 Geiger 12026 XR that abuts that same end wall of said frame member 1,489,210 4/ 192 4 Hartline 12026 XR in said open position, 2,542,774 2/1951 Hutchinson 15104 4. The lint collector of claim 3 wherein said rearmost FOREIGN PATENTS portion is part of a stiffening box-like structure having 10 two side Walls perpendicular to said rear-most wall and 204430 10/1923 Great Bntam connected to it and a web connected to those three walls DANIEL BLUM, Primary Examiner. 

